The Atacama basin is a prominent morphological anomaly in the Central Andean forearc. 3D seismic structure beneath the depression and its surroundings has been determined from local earthquake tomography. Depth maps of P-wave velocity and attenuation (1/Qp) through the lithosphere reveal a rheologically strong (high Qp and vp) lithospheric block beneath the basin, surrounded by weak regions (low Qp and vp) beneath Pre- and Western Cordilleras. The anomalous lithospheric structure appears to bar hot asthenospheric mantle from penetrating trenchward, and hence causes the volcanic front to be deflected by the Salar de Atacama basin. The cold block may also influence the thermal structure of the subducted slab causing reduced Benioff seismicity and less hydration of mantle rocks evident from reduced vp/vs ratios. Seismic data are hard to reconcile with extension and lithospheric thinning as a mechanism for subsidence of the basin. Instead, high strength of the Atacama lithospheric block may contribute to basin formation by focussing deformation and uplift along the block's weak edges.